How to Set Effective Goals

Earlier in the week, as part of The Success Formula Series, we discussed the importance of setting goals. Today, we're looking at how to set effective goals.

In my experience, people often set very strong professional goals at work but neglect to do it for any other area of life. While career is typically the most structured part of life, it doesn't have to be only one that benefits from clearly defined goals. Today, I encourage everyone to take the time to establish at least one solid goal for each area of your life. Here are some examples (some of these may not apply to you):

• Professional
• Relationships (family, friends, co-workers)
  
• Fitness/Health
• Intellectual
  
• Community Involvement
• Financial
• Education
• Artistic

A "good" goal has 5 distinct elements. Remember the "SMART" acronym:

Specific
What do you want to achieve? How will you achieve it? Why is it important to you? Clearly define the outcome you want.

Measurable
Establish concrete criteria for measuring your success. Use actual numbers, target dates, or specific events to indicate when your goal has been achieved.

Achievable
Your goals should push you past your comfort point but you should still be able to attain them with effort and commitment.

Relevant
Your goals should be important to you and the outcome should impact your life. Likewise, you should have the ability to directly impact them. Don't set goals that aren't significant or that you can't do anything to impact achievement.

Timely
Your goals should have a time element established. This will keep you on track and prevent you from simply pushing a goal off infinitely into the distant future. It should matter now and you should have a sense of urgency about it.

Use the following tips to help you with your goal setting:

• Keep it simple - just a few sentences for each will be plenty.
• Write your goals down! "The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen." (Lee Iacocca)
  
• Make a commitment to review your goals regularly.
• Allow your goals to reflect your values. Let your sense of "inner purpose" guide you.
• Visualize achieving your goal. See it, taste it, smell it. Feel your goal before it happens.
• Use motivating, positive language.
• Make your goals emotional. Use words that have an impact on you - energizing, compelling, inspiring words.
• Share your goals with others and ask for their support.
• Reward yourself along the way. Even small achievements deserve recognition.
• Create goals for different increments of time (one week, one month, three months, one year, five years, ten years, etc.)
• Make sure your goals are yours - not just what others expect of you.
• Be sure to track your progress along the way - we'll be talking more about this in the next few days. For now, be sure to check out my Goal Tracker Template if you haven't already.

We'll be discussing some of these points in more detail over the next week or so. Be sure to check back for the next installment in The Success Formula Series - Creating Your Plan.

Oh, and for a little extra motivation, share your goal in the comments below. Don't worry - we're a supportive bunch! There's nothing like sharing your goal with others to help keep you accountable and strong...

Ok, I'll start: My goal is to actively help inspire my peers to achieve their career goals by providing advice and resources in a supportive online community which will continue to grow and improve for the benefit of everyone involved.

What do you think?